The small-group tour operator reported a 33% year-on-year growth with new agents onboard, while 60% of the company’s bookings this year have been made by solo travellers.
Explore’s most popular itineraries for solo travellers include Jordan Discovery, Costa Rica Wildlife Tour and Amalfi Coast Walking.
Travellers have also shown greater interest in longer, more immersive holidays that avoid over-touristed spots, explore at a more gentle pace and "really get under the skin" of a destination.
Walking holidays are also on the up, as travellers look to "get closer" to their destination with easy graded walking holidays and European walking holidays.
In Europe, Walking the Azores and Walking in Portugal are both on the up, whilst long-haul tours Walking in New Zealand and Walking Jordan’s Spice Trails continue to be popular.
In the last four weeks, the brand’s last-minute bookings for this summer are up 23% on the same period in 2019, with customers waiting until closer to departure "across the board".
So far this year, long-haul "bucket list" trips to the Maldives (+50%), Kilimanjaro (+80%) and the Inca Trail (+47%), as well as safari holidays and polar voyages, have booked "very strongly" for the brand.
Ben Ittensohn, global sales director at Explore, said: "Adventure travel has come back with such gusto this year. It’s been really interesting digging further into these new bookings, and finding patterns emerging in terms of destinations and types of trips, but also new trends in booking behaviours."